Pictured: The PC and the dog he is accused of killing by locking him in a car on a blazing hot day

Smiling proudly with his arm around his beloved dog Jet, this is PC Mark Johnson, the officer accused of killing two police dogs by leaving them in his car on a blazing day.

PC Johnson is alleged to have killed Jet, who was ten, and 18-month-old Jay-Jay by leaving them in the vehicle while outside temperatures hit 82.5f (28c).

Animal welfare experts said that in that heat, it would have taken only 20 minutes for the temperature inside the car to reach 116f (47c).

Teamwork: PC Mark Johnson and Jet at last year's national police championships

PC Johnson, 40, whose identity has not been revealed until now, was previously regarded as one of the country's leading police dog handlers - and Jet was admired as one of the best service dogs.

Jet was considered so talented that although it had been due to retire from routine work, the force planned to retrain it as a firearms dog to sniff out weapons. Jay-Jay was being trained to replace Jet.

This photo was taken at last year's national police dog championship, a prestigious event where PC Johnson and Jet came third and for which they had qualified for the previous four years running.

Despite his wealth of experience, PC Johnson appears to have made one of the most basic of dog handling mistakes on the afternoon of June 30 this year.

He locked the dogs in his car outside Nottinghamshire-police force's HQ. Last week the RSPCA said it will prosecute him for 'causing unnecessary suffering to animals'. The maximum sentence is six months in prison and a £20,000 fine.

PC Johnson has now been suspended until his court case is over.

Nottinghamshire has a 24-strong police dog team, and a close friend and fellow dog handler said: 'He is one of the top boys in the unit. He made a lot of arrests and would always get involved in the action. The two dogs were his, and his family's, life. He can't believe what has happened.

'He left the dogs in the car while he popped into the office for a few minutes. He got waylaid and when he came back, they were dead.

'He's devastated because he knows that this will be the end of his time as a police animal handler.'